“I can be on the clock whenever I want,” she said with a grin. “If you think I’m gonna miss Mom making you squirm while you avoid telling her what you were up to tonight, you’re crazy.”
I sighed, hanging my head in defeat. I wasn’t getting out of it. Mom would get the information out of me, or they would make things miserable until I could escape to my room.
“Better make mine a double,” I muttered, trudging off to face my fate.
And my night had been going so well.
JACE
"He's gonna run," I muttered to myself as we approached carefully, eyes on the guy on the corner, his back to us.
"It's your optimism that makes you a great partner," my partner said with a snort. Kayden was a great partner, but he tended to run his mouth, which also made him an annoying partner. What made him an exceptionally annoying partner was that he thought he was funny, but he wasn't. "My days would be bleak and hopeless without you around to spread some cheer."
"He's gonna run," I repeated.
"We're practically up his ass; he's not going to run."
"He will."
"Bet he won't."
"Lunch on the loser?"
"Done."
My partner, who should have known by now that anything he was willing to bet on was the losing bet, closed the distance, raising his voice. "Lawrence Jacks— Son of a bitch!"
I had been right...mostly. Turned out good ol' Lawrence had a trick up his sleeve, involving the canister in his hand, which he whipped out and unloaded into my partner's face. Some of it misted into the air, and I coughed from the bite of pepper spray.Understandably, Kayden jerked back from the sudden onslaught to his senses, while Lawrence took the opportunity to take off like the hounds of hell were hot on his heels.
He was wrong, because it wasmehot on his heels.
"You know damn well it's the cops, so stop!" I barked as I hoofed it after him, feet slamming into the concrete. The little bastard was tall but skinny, and apparently trying to beat the wind in terms of speed while he darted between people. I was doing enough yelling to get the attention of anyone in our path, making both our jobs in running easier, but I really didn't want to slam into some woman and sprain something on her...again. "You've already got...assault of an officer...and we've got your name...so just...don't make this...worse!"
"Fuck you, Pig!” he snapped over his shoulder and quickly darted to the right, down an alley.
"Oh, you're gonna squeal like one when I'm done," I growled as I followed him.
"Be advised, suspect is on the run," I heard the operator chirp from my radio, and realized I hadn't been paying attention to what he'd been saying. "Officer Reno?—"
"In pursuit," I hissed into the mic as Lawrence made another turn at the intersection of the buildings we were running between. "On him hot."
"Be advised, do not chase the subject," came the operator's voice, leaving no room for argument, meaning it was probably coming from higher up than either of us.
Which made precisely zero sense, considering he’d already assaulted my partner and was now running. I was sure, given the chance, he would have done as bad, if not worse, to me to get away, but had unloaded his spray can already. All I could do was hope he didn't have another one on him, or at least didn't have a chance to use it. Of course, ignoring orders was a good way of getting into trouble...again.
"Didn't catch that, one sec," I said into the radio as I took the next turn. I let go of the button as I watched Lawrence scramble up a fence that was taller than me, moving quickly like he was born to it. "Your squirrely ass better move better than that!"
"Damn it, Jace," came the growl from the speaker, but I turned it down before pushing myself to speed up after him. I was going to get my ass grilled for this, but I was going to make sure it was worth it.
I wasn't as nimble as my target, but that didn't mean I didn't have ways around if I needed to. It just so happened that there was a stack of trash next to a dumpster near the fence. I could only hope the trash held my weight as I used it as steps up to the dumpster. The lid thumped and almost buckled under my weight, but reaching the metal edge, I leaped forward and hooked my hands into the top of the fence. I didn't need to be limber to swing myself up and over, landing on the other side with a grunt and a grin when I saw Lawrence had slowed down enough to see if he'd lost me.
He looked about ready to shit his pants at the sight of me chasing after him, and he took off again. I was already figuring out the difference between us, though, and it worked in my favor. He was a little faster than me, and clearly nimble, but from the sweat on his face and the flush around his cheeks, he didn't have the stamina I did. And I already knew from the size difference that he was going to have less strength as well.
Which meant all I had to do was keep up for long enough and then?—
BOOM.
Thank God I saw his arm jerk out of his hoodie before the muzzle flash filled the dimly lit alley with the harsh echo of the gun. Pieces of brick flew off the wall beside me, stinging the side of my head as I snarled, barreling after him. His eyes widened, and he swore, clearly not sure what to do about someone whowas crazy enough to chase him even after he'd fired a gun at them. The problem for him was that I had already dealt with running under a hail of bullets, so one idiot trying to gun me down out of sheer panic wasn't going to slow me down, let alone stop me.
